“Knowledge of students includes both knowledge of the particular students being taught and knowledge of students’ learning in general. Knowing one’s own students includes knowing who they are, what they know, and how they view learning, mathematics, and themselves. The teacher needs to know something of each student’s personal and educational background, especially the mathematical skills, abilities, and dispositions that the student brings to the lesson. The teacher also needs to be sensitive to the unique ways of learning, thinking about, and doing mathematics that the student has developed. Each student can be seen as located on a path through school mathematics, equipped with strengths and weaknesses, having developed his or her own approaches to mathematical tasks, and capable of contributing to and profiting from each lesson in a distinctive way.” (Mathematics Learning Study Committee, National Research Council, 2001)  By taking the time to learn about our students, we can be more effective educators.  Knowing their interests, learning styles, and personalities will give us incredible insight to how our students learn and ways to motivate them. 

I always start the school year with students making a portfolio that has student favorites and what I want to be when I grow up.  These pages are a quiet activity for students to do as they slowly mingle into the class on that first day of school.  Once class begins, I get students to interact by playing bingo based on student interests.  The Bingo game gets the students really talking which quickly leads into a 4 corners game for me to see students interests without filling out a survey.  I later use their portfolio to create a small data base on student interests to help with group of students later in the year.  The second day of school is when I focus on learning styles.  Using a learning styles survey, The student each identify their personal learning style in groups.  Then the students are grouped together based on their learning styles to help them make a chart about ways they learn best.  It is fun to have the students make a wordle with what they put on their charts.  These charts serve as regular reminders about how to frame my lessons so I can include and engage all students.  At the beginning of the second week of school, I dig into Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences with the students.  I use images to help students identify the various intelligences and discover which one they relate to most.  I use what they identify with to help me group students throughout the year, specifically trying to create a balanced mix of students with different intelligences to allow the talents of each student to shine in their personal way.  As a class, we use the multiple intelligences to create study guides and spaces for each student.  While I have had to adapt these lessons based on the grade I teach and the classroom environment I use the same concepts with each new group of students so help me find ways to connect to my students.  The connections with students are invaluable as the year progresses. 

Here are a few tools to help teachers and students gain insight to about how students learn.  Or you can check out my pinterest site for more resources: http://pinterest.com/bbarnowsky/connecting-with-students-and-learning/

On-line learning survey

http://people.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/stylest.html

Multiple Intelligence Assessment

http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/what.cfm

References:

Mathematics Learning Study Committee, National Research Council. (2001). Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics. (pp. 378-379). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9822&page=378

 
As this is the beginning of a new semester, it is also an adventure exploring the world of MOOC with our peers.  Just in week 1 it has been an adventure as I submitted my first Tweet, created this blog and joined a google group.  Right now, I am still in overload with all the mediums we are using for this class.  There is not just one site to go to find all the work and discussions.  So the first key to being successful in this class is being organized and knowing how to bookmark the pages you will be using the most. 

Before I can truly comment on being successful in a MOOC, I had to find out exactly what a MOOC is.  " A MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course".  (Moocguide, 2013)  One of the most interesting parts of a MOOC is that it is often not a paid class.  I see it as a great way to truly promote collaboration and professional development across the miles.

Key componets of being successful in a MOOC:
1.    Time to actively contribute to the MOOC
2.    Willingness to ask questions and share your knowledge
3.    Not reading everything, a filter mode
4.    Participation

The only way a MOOC will be beneficial to you is to active participate in the course.  As you engage in the course others will benefit from you.  So get out there to tweet, pin, diigo, and discuss.

Check out my pins related to this blog at http://pinterest.com/bbarnowsky/diffimooc/


[Web log message]. (2013). Retrieved from http://moocguide.wikispaces.com/0. Home Intro to MOOC